I have been vacationing and now living in Maine since 1949. The lure of The North Woods was ingrained in me from my earliest memories. Our family came every summer from wherever we lived at the time. Alabama, Ohio, New York, Maryland, New Jersey … none of them had the draw we had to this beautiful, wild wilderness. We brought a number of families with us over the years to experience Maine, and every one of them ended up coming back again and again and some eventually retired here.
Our destination was a small lake in the Lincoln area where the last 15 miles of the road was dirt in 1949. The camp we rented was primitive … no electricity, an outhouse, no TV and a crackly transistor radio, kerosene lamps, an old-fashioned ice box (with real ice), a wood cook stove — all the amenities.
Today it is still that way, but we bought it back in 1972, and we like it that way. We grew up lying on our backs on the dock at night looking up at the trillions of stars and galaxies in the pitch dark. So did my kids, and now the grandchildren and great grandchildren.
As kids we learned about nature and the universe, Grandma read us books about the wilderness at night. We learned an independent spirit because we could go just about anywhere on the lake and still be in view of the camp. It was great for our young psyches to have the controlled freedom to explore, fish, swim, camp out on a secure island, canoe, motor boat, hike, gather berries and do all the things The Maine Woods offers.
Sad to say, I showed up at the camp in the spring of last year to find my view out the front porch of our camp, the view my recently passed Mother thought was “the best view in the whole world” (and she lived and traveled all over the world) was spoiled with 23 400-foot-tall wind generators spinning during the day, and flashing their red and white strobe lights all night. I was heartbroken. Our idyllic North Woods retreat was ruined, and for what?
The myth that wind power is a good form of “Renewable” energy is just that; A myth. The truth is, wind can not provide a reliable, dependable source of energy without enormous subsidies from the government and the power industry. The cost of production is double that of gas and coal fired generators, and three times more than hydro power. If the investors in wind power had to rely solely on the output from their generators, there would be no investment.
Regular power plants with enough energy production to provide 100 percent of the grid needs as a backup still have to be powered up 24/7. Operating these plants at reduced and intermittent power is very inefficient.
After 30 years of building wind generators, it still only amounts to less than 2 percent of our total energy production.
Europe has been at it for just as long, and in spite of the fact that they have far more generators than we do, it is still not profitable, and still is just at 2 percent of their power grid.
Much of the income for Vacationland comes from tourism, people who come
here to experience the same idyllic wilderness we did in 1949. I’m not too sure how many of them would come to see wind farms on the horizon of their “most beautiful view in the world.” Two recent pairs of bald eagles on our lake and thousands of bats are also endangered because they are attracted to the spinning blades.
It is time we make some hard decisions about who we are here in Maine.
While it is important that we find alternative ways to make power, maybe we should consider going back to the hydro power we used here for generations of Mainers. Some of the dams we still have could be upgraded to boost the output to the same amount the wind farms generate. They provide steady reliable power, unlike wind. We could really cut back the use of fossil fuels, because hydro doesn’t fluctuate. Is there anyone else out there that wants to keep the beauty of The Great North Woods?
Jim Lutz is a current resident of Bangor, whose parents retired here in the 1980s. Though he is not a lifelong resident, he considers himself a Mainer since he has been a vacationer since he was 18 months old.
All these wind Generators put up already Kibby Mountain, Spruce Mountain, Rollins Mountain, and Record Hill all need to be taken down and get rid of, all their doing is destroying the character of Maine and leaving us Mainers with nothing and putting money in First Wind’s and Lepage’s pocket. I don’t understand why they have to put them on mountains in remote areas,if they are going to put wind mills up, put them in already developed area and not way up in the North Woods where every body gets away from it all and enjoy themselves. This needs to stop! I would hate to see Maine’s North Woods Get destroyed by fake money saving windmills.
we should replace them with somethng more earthy …. like a large dump.
Haha! We should replace them what was already there…..the TREES that support the friggin timber industery and the freedom we have up north but that would never happen with these people from away buying up all the land and selling it to companies like First Wind from Massachusetts or Plum Creek, Quimby.. etc etc. Maine is not what it use to be and it will end up like southern New Hampshire in northern Maine…real shame.
Don’t forget that trees, especially rapidly growing youner trees, sequester carbon. The loss of the carbon sequestering trees needs to be factored in when the wind zealots calculate their skewed numbers on carbon offset from wind power. From what I can tell the “carbon footprint” of wind turbines is so great they will never offset their own carbon footprint with their feeble production.
Just a quick correction to your comment that I whole heartedly agree with. LePage is not profiting in any way from wind turbines. He has become increasingly critical of them. He doesn’t like the subsidies, the mandates, and the potential for these turbines to increase electricity rates. The onslaught of turbines are the legacy of Baldacci who rammed through PL 661 in April 2008.
It has been made very clear in Woodstock that the wind company from Massachusetts and land management companies work together to take federal funds in these wind turbine projects. Harvesting of wood on the land marked out as in control of the wind company did not start until the wind project was a definite go. Since the wind project came in the woods have been stripped and there is no more sound barrier to filter the noise of the wind turbines. This project can be heard up to 5 miles on a good day, if there is a good day; to put up with the noise. Seeing that I am labelled a NIMBY, which is an old term for anyone who speaks against industry of any kind, I am appalled at the ignorance of the public over this kind of a project. People, townships, realize that with out a industrial wind turbine ordinance you can not control the problems that follow after a project comes in. You have the right to govern yourselves at the town level and you need to get involved. After you have lost your view, quality of life and sanity, IT IS TO LATE. As these wind projects go up there will be more people that will have the full experience of industrial wind turbines and they will now be called NIMBY’s as they begin the process of trying to resolve the damage done by a project for 2% wind power. Dams are quieter and generate more than enough energy. People, you must realize that these wind projects do not benefit Mainer’s, they benefit companies out of Massachusetts and the only jobs created are for the gypsy rovers who come in. create and leave. It took 6 months to destroy Spruce Mountain in Woodstock for worthless wind. Maine already meets it’s quota for renewable energy at 30% and makes more energy than we need, meaning we are shipping energy out of state because there to much, why is it that the price is not going down? It seems that the supply and demand factor is not working here. I have learned that the less we use the more we pay. Please educate yourselves on :TRUE: renewable energy.
WIND = 75% does not blow, 10-30% loss in transmission. There is a parasitic draw from the GRID but WIND will not tell us.
WIND cracks our springs on the mountain tops and then pours herbicides down them.
WIND slices and dices and blows up the winged ones.
WIND increases your electricty bills.
WIND makes money for the likes of King Angus and MASS oles.
Kudos for this article, Mr. Lutz. Many people in the Lincoln Lakes area are saying the same thing in conversation, residents and visitors alike. Several spoke in opposition to industrial wind projects in Maine’s scenic lake country at the public hearings last June in Lincoln about the ‘Bowers Mountain’ project, which has been stopped, at least for now. Their views were taken very seriously. Unfortunately, Maine’s socially unjust Wind Energy Act allowed Rollins to be approved, despite a valiant fight by a small group of local landowners. You said it all when you wrote, “It is time we make some hard decisions about who we are here in Maine.” Please keep writing and talking about the issue. Every day more Mainers are realizing what is happening and are speaking up, enacting wind ordinances, and fighting back. The Wind Energy Act = Social Injustice. Let’s fix it folks.
The heinous “Wind Energy Act”, PL 661 was rammed through the “short term” of the Legislature back in April 2008 with the bare minimum needed to be legally enacted and with no public discussion or legislative debate. No industry has ever received such favoritism as what this law gives to an industry that wouldn’t even exist without unduly rich tax subsidies (per MWH) and mandates. No legislator I have ever spoken with has said they read the bill nor understood it when they voted for it. The next Legislature needs to repeal PL 661.
If you go to Lincoln, the town has nice welcome signs featuring the iconic loon that is found on all the lakes. It has the slogan “Land of Thirteen Lakes”. The town and the others, Lee, Winn, and Burlington chose to destroy the “Quality of Place” by allowing First Wind to blast away and level Rollins Mt. and the ridges of Rocky Dundee to put up 40 noisy, ugly 389 ft tall turbines. They sold the thousand waterfront property owners down the river in favor of a bunch of tax subsidy thieves. Now the welcome signs should replace the loon with a wind turbine and the slogan “Land of Forty Turbines”.
It is too bad that BDN doesn’t allow attachment of photos which is an option with Disqus that other newspapers like the Portland Press Herald allows. I can’t attach the photo of the sign directly, but click on this link and there it is: http://www.windtaskforce.org/photo/first-winds-vision-of-lincoln?context=latest
My story is similar to Jims. I am also a non resident of Lincoln but some of my roots have been there since 1984 when I purchased 41 acres off a long pond rd. Being a farmers son I had plenty of farming blood in me to cary out a few plans of my own. I had a few things in mind, Camp, Xmas trees, camp ground what ever it took to establish a natural green presents among the locals. It wasn’t long before I was a local since I would spend a lot of time up in the north woods enjoying the heck out of Gods country and sharing that with family. Working the tree farm business through the years raised even more awareness about the importance of trees in our backyard . I was so intrigued I spread the word through teaching it any way I could. Today I will tell you that funding, planting, managing, and removing trees and foliage should be the nations top priority like it started to be in the 70s and 80s.The EPA has a lot to learn about managing the output of our industrial pollution entering and controlling levels in our atmosphere There is no better filter of our atmosphere than a tree. My point is today the earth is one giant free for all with no accountability for the actions taken. An unplanned action driven by dreams of lots of money taken by the government is nothing but poison. and as long as we have to endure the repercussions,and poisoned end results of our politicians decisions we are doomed. Remember companies are the children of industry the Government is the responsible party that supposedly is watching out for the population and the good of the citizens and wildlife-= NOT ————— Got Vision———
Speaking of trees, please read:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/nrcm-s-co2-analysis
PenobScot, thanks for the link. It proves my point I made in my other comment about carbon sequestering trees.
People need to see photos of the reality of this Rollins Wind project on Lincoln Lakes. A picture says a thousand words, right? Keep in mind this is a medium size project, with a number of proposed larger projects using bigger turbines that these that are 389 ft. high, like the Oakfield project that DEP just rubber stamped. Click on these links for webalbums of photos of the Rollins Wind project, with captions. https://picasaweb.google.com/101554457531034815464/RollinsWindProjectFromTheAirMay12011#; https://picasaweb.google.com/101554457531034815464/RollinsWindProjectMay12011#; https://picasaweb.google.com/101554457531034815464/RollinsWindProjectRockyDundeeUpperPond#
There are more than 700 waterfront parcels with either year round homes or seasonal camps in Lincoln. Plus a few hundred more in Lee and Burlington. All negatively impacted by the wind turbines, as Mr. Lutz describes. These properties are all assessed at a higher rate for being waterfront. Now that assessment needs to be re-evaluated. Who would ever want to buy a place with a view (and in many cases, the noise) of wind turbines?
There are some peole who want to get more information on tax abatements and revaluations as it relates to the impact of the wind turbines on waterfront property. If you want information, email a request to blueyes1119@gmail.com
I was under a turbine last night and anyone who can’t hear these things must be deaf. One turbine had a steady whistle. What an annoyance when one is listening for the natural sounds. The huge ditches and clear cuts replace thousands of trees. We will never stop climate change by building turbines. Industrial emissions are what got us in this mess and increasing industrialization will only make matters worse. People in Lincoln are noticing infrasound also. Many do not realize what it is causing their discomfort.
NRCM and others taking blood money based their entire initial advocacy for wind on false CO2 claims. It worked with our legislature. After all, hearing about TONS of CO2, something that seemingly is weightless, is rather frightening. So it needs to be put in perspective and we’ve done that using NRCM’s #’s. The net net is that likely at best, all of the supposed CO2 emissions avoidance from about 2,000 turbines planned to inflict deeps scars in our hallowed Maine countryside are equal in effect to what 1% of the Maine woods do naturally every year via sequestration and evaporation.
The analysis can be read here:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/nrcm-s-co2-analysis
What a well written article about the destruction of the environment at Lincoln Lakes! You can tell it comes from the heart. This same thing is being proposed for the wilderness lakes around Oakfield and Island Falls, Maine. The Department of Environmental Destruction has permitted fifty 500 foot tall massive wind turbines overlooking these lakes – Lake Pleasant and Lake Mattawamkeag. Why do they allow such devastation to Maine’s Natural Beauty? Tourists do not come to Maine to see 500 foot tall wind turbines. They come to see Mother Nature and escape “civilization”. Why would anyone allow a company from Boston come to Maine and destroy its environment with false promises? Any property within eyesight of these 500 foot tall monsters will lose much of its value. Why would anyone allow such a travesty?
Thank you for a very relevant opinion piece, Mr. Lutz. What we have here in Maine is very, very special, which is why people come here from all over the world. Tourism brings in ten billion dollars annually in goods and services and provides over 175,000 full time jobs to Mainers. Sacrificing our biggest and most reliable economic engine to the industrial wind industry is not only foolish, but doing so has the power to bankrupt this state. We need to keep Maine beautiful.
The star studded night sky above the lakes is now grossly transformed by the flashing turbine lights on the blinking Lincoln lakes.
A picture says a thousand words. A photo taken from a camp on Upper Pond in Lincoln of turbine lights on the Rocky Dundee ridges. The web site http://www.windtaskforce.org is a great resource, assembled by citizens of Maine. Here is the link to the photo: http://www.windtaskforce.org/photo/rollins-lights?context=latest
Wow! That is friggin’ unreal! Is this what the North Woods are going to look like? This has to be stopped. How could people in Lincoln let this happen?
A mother sits by her tormented child’s bedside for several hours in the middle of the night as the roar and beat of two nearby wind turbines permeate the walls of their home. A middle aged man feels worsening chest pains from the strain brought about by a string of nights where restful sleep has been severely compromised. A high school sophomore finds her grades slipping because her nervous system is frayed from the frequent sleeplessness that has now become a part of her life. A family that needs to sell their house comes to the sickening realization that nobody will be purchasing their home, even with substantial price cuts, now that its once peaceful and natural setting effectively sits in the midst of what has become a factory.
We asked a prominent member of a powerful Maine environmental group what she thought of the anguish that their wind turbine advocacy has helped bring about and she simply shrugged, saying “it’s for the greater good”. We’ve even heard that some have a name for those of us who suffer — “policy roadkill”.
See:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/anguish
Please visit this website: http://www.protect-our-lakes.org
It is the primary website trying to protect the 2 wilderness lakes near Island Falls, Maine (Lake Pleasant and Lake Mattawamkeag) that will be forever destroyed by fifty 500 foot tall wind turbines already permitted by the Maine Department of Environmental Destruction but not yet built.
If you love Maine for its Natural Beauty and want to keep it from being destroyed by thousands of these monster wind turbines, please help us. Thank you.
My great grandfather William Sewall took an ailing young Theodore Roosevelt on Lake Mattawamkeag. Bible Point is the STATE SITE there commemorating his meditation time by the Lake. Young TR was healed here in these north woods and lakes from his lifelong asthma by the oxygenating trees and fresh air, the same woods and trees scheduled to be raped by being torn down, the stripped hills blasted to put in the largest wind farm so far in the State overlooking our highly ranked preserved lakes. (80 people of Oakfield made this decision affecting 3000 taxpayers in Island Falls, many of them lake owners- contrary to what we have been told this will negatively impact our businesses and residents). Through a petition of over 700 signatures gathered in a few quick weeks, as well as letters much like the one Mr Lutz wrote here from people like the third generation owners of the Roosevelt Camps on Pleasant Lake (ranked !B and our other ranked 1A by the STATE) or the retired couple from Kansas that searched the whole country and found Island Falls and its precious pristine lakes to purchase their dream retirement lake cabin, we BEGGED the DEP( and are now appealing the BEP) not to permit this project. Twenty people were smart enough to vote no but the 80 who voted yes were influenced by local landowners who stand to gain financially from leasing their land and the select people seduced by the promise of Money (which will be gone in 20 years and may result in them paying more school taxes). These murderous 45 story tall monsters were pushed on these people, who in my opinion were taken advantage of by the wind company First Wind who cleverly throws money at those who have little of it and will find their are trading in a rich quality of life that can never be replaced. If it was such a good deal why would people have to sign gag contracts where they can never sue the wind companies if they cannot sleep or worse yet get cancer or heart disease? or even speak about their deal..or anything negative about the company- does that sound right? where have our morals gone?
I have been blessed to also travel to some of the most amazing and beautiful places in the world like Mr Lutz’s mother and have been coming to our family’s rustic cabin since I was in my mother’s womb in 1955. I agree with his mother and ,as My dear Great Aunt Nancy Cunningham would say when people started talking about beautiful places : “It doesn’t have anything on Mattawamkeag”., In 1997 I bought my great grandfather’s home in Island Falls to keep the National Historic Legacy standing of the home alive. Now First Wind is planning to kill our forests, hills, habitat and wildlife and rob us of our physical and mental health for what? A practically nonexistent(2%!) highly inefficient (lack of) energy source..and now the FEDs want to KILL MORE EAGLES http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/BaldAndGoldenEagleManagement.htm with wind turbines yet if we kill one it is a crime..how is that for double standard? PLEASE PLEASE STOP DOING THIS MAINE>>
UNDO Baldacci’s awful Wind Law..GET our energy secretary Ken Fletcher to help us change this travesty..and LePage..
and thank you BDN for publishing Mr Lutz’s letter that expresses so well way so many of us feel –
and described it so well.
what happened to “Maine the way life should be”?
Beautiful sentiments Jim. Much like your neighbors and their children gave at the Lincoln hearings last year regarding the Bowers project. We staved off the intruders for a while on our lake, but they’ll be back as long as the federal dollars and the complicit Maine legislators remain. I miss Betty Mae. Thank god she left before the turbines. pf
Very nice NIMBY article, but since you are from “away” you are not considered a Mainer. One has to be born here to claim that.
You obviously are ignorant of the facts. Why would you want to subsidize the million dollar salaries of the wind industry executives? Are you in favor of increasing the federal defict by giving billions in tax-payer subsidies to the wind industry? Are you in favor of paying higher electric rates by subsidizing inefficient wind farms? Please get educated to the truth and do not believe the false promises of the big wind industry. Massive wind farms on forested mountain ridges in the interior of Maine is the perfect example of wasteful spending and ignorance.
The wind industry has corrupted Maine politicians with their massive lobbying and political contributions. Maine politicians have been corrupted by the money given to them by the wind industry. Its time for the people of Maine to stand up and say “enough is enough”. No more corruption in our state. Any politician who takes any money from the wind industry needs to be “outed” and voted out of office. The people of Maine are tired of this corruption.
The people of Maine (in truth, people around the globe) have been brainwashed into thinking that we muct sacrifice what is best about our homeland for ‘the greater good’. But the wind lobby has been unable to PROVE their claims about the environmental and economic benefits of wind. As long as we believe what we’re told without doing any independent research, we will continue to blindly allow the sacrifice of our wild places for an energy source whose negative impacts far outweigh its paltry benefits. This is driven by money–NOT by any altruism about the ‘greater good’.
And we have been easy marks.
My heart breaks for the people who’ve lost so much wherever ‘wind’ has been built. Please use your experienced voices to help educate those who have no previous knowledge of industrial wind, so that this same fate does not befall them…
Chinbro and Malcom French (Haynes) have two met towers on Greenland Ridge 3/4 mile from the shore of East Grand Lake. Another attempt at ruining our “Quality of Place”. The town of Danforth could care less. East Grand is the ONLY reason anyone comes to town. Also, the impact wind turbins would have on hundreds of others who had no say in the voting of the “wind ordiance”
Maine has given away our scenic vistas to industrial wind turbines, with almost no benefit for residents. These are one of our state’s most precious unique characteristics, cherished by residents and tourists alike. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection, issues permits for these industrial wind turbines, [LURC, if in an Unorganized township] and basically has it’s hands tied in regards to citizens’ attempts to have projects denied based on “Visual Impact”. The noise factor is very difficult to assess and is open to wide interpretation due to many variables with our climate’s seasons and site differences. The state’s expedited Wind Power law is written to favor turbine projects, DEP can’t change the law. Their rulings on permit applications must be what the law requires, no matter the petitions, etc. public outcry against them. We need new law in Maine that reflects the many shortcomings and problems of turbines, as well as encourages lessening of environmental problems of [mostly out of state] fossil fuel based power sources. In the meantime, groups opposing pending applications under review by DEP or LURC need tangible legally valid points on which to base their opposition. Time is of the essence.